Today is my spot on the book tour for Venessa Taylor's Baller Boys vs The Bulldozers. One of 'the girls' favourite games is football, and you can tell by their body language just how enraptured they were! I mean, just look at Poppy's face 😊🐾
Thank you LiterallyPR Hashtag Press, and Venessa Taylor, for sending me a copy of Baller Boys in exchange for my honest review.
AUTHOR BIO
Venessa Taylor is a number 1 best-selling author and winner of The People’s Book Prize for Children’s Literature 2021.
Venessa is a qualified primary school teacher with over two decades of experience, most recently as an assistant headteacher. She wrote Baller Boys to reflect the diversity football brings to a community. Her aim was to encourage reluctant readers – boys in particular. She discovered there wasn’t a great selection of topics that interested young boys, so she set the challenge to rectify this – and she did. 🏆
Her stories are dedicated to her son-in-law, ‘Coach Reece’, who died suddenly in 2017. Reece Darcheville and his wife Shenna - Venessa’s daughter, were a huge help to Venessa in the development, plot lines, and characters of her work.
After a shocking cancer diagnosis, Venessa underwent years of extensive cancer treatment and is still searching for a stem cell donor. Thankfully, she's currently in remission and embraces each day with the loving support of her friends and family. Venessa lives in Essex and is an ambassador for various leukaemia and cancer charities.
BOOK-BLURB
Best friends Shay and Frankie, and their team AC United, are back for another football season, another year older, and eager for a win…
The duo soon realise that nothing ever stays the same, and change is a part of life whether they like it or not – both on and off the pitch.
With new team members, the threat of losing their precious home turf, and changes afoot in their family lives too, can the boys work together to stay on track… and keep winning?
And, of course, who will be crowned Baller Boy this season?
MY REVIEW.
I really enjoyed this book. It's the second in Venessa Taylor’s best-selling series, Baller Boys. After reading Baller Boys vs The Bulldozers, I shall be reading the first in the series too. Baller Boy vs The Bulldozers is a stand-alone story, so it’s easy to follow despite not having read the first book. I liked how the characters had their own voice. They are so different, yet gel so well together. There are many stories woven together, not just how well All Cultures United play in the league, but the introduction of Ashleigh, their first girl player, and the prospect of so many unwanted changes, such as the sale of the clubhouse and pitch. The story develops at a quick pace with short chapters and fantastic illustrations by Kenneth Ghann. Overall, this is a good story that boys and girls will enjoy whether a football fan or not. It’s a great book for parents to read to their children, or for children to read themselves. The illustrations are a perfect addition to the story, bringing the characters to life.
Thank you, LiterallyPR, Hashtag Press and Venessa Taylor, for my copy of Baller Boys vs The Bulldozers in exchange for an honest review.
My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
NEXT BOOK REVIEW:
22nd May: The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow, by Elaine Dimopolous.
Butternut lives in the burrows of Milkweed Meadow with her nine rabbit brothers and sisters. Together they practice strategies for survival and tell stories. With disastrous scenarios blooming in her mind, Butternut embraces the lesson of her family’s stories: stick to your own rabbit-kind. But after befriending an incorrigible robin and a wounded deer, Butternut begins to question what she has been taught.
When the three friends discover other animals in crisis, Butternut must decide whether she can help, rally her friends and family, and be as brave as the heroes in the stories she tells.
I have a feeling that all animal lovers out there will enjoy this! 🐰
Until my next review, stay safe and happy reading!